Just Chess Pieces on the European Game Board
by Salmiakkirae
Summary: Sweden and Finland will find out that sometimes things you have always taken for granted change, especially when you are just a pawn in a much bigger game.
1. Prologue

"I hope I can ask you a favor now that we are friends,"

France smiled to his guest, his newly found power made him look more confident than ever "It's nothing too important, I don't mind if you say no. I wouldn't be surprised if you were still tired after your latest defeat and unable to help a new friend in need."

Russia's gloved hand squeezed a wine glass lightly, not enough to break it however, as it was just an unintentional reaction to the charming man's words. They were friends now, there was no need to get provoked only because France mentioned something Russia would rather forget.

But it was something impossible to forget as it was the only reason why they were friends now. Russia wasn't sure did he like this kind of friendship.

The truth was that Russia had lost a war against France not so long ago. It was almost remarkable how much France's new boss had managed to strengthen his country, he had made him a power to be reckoned with, even more so than before. This also made him a dangerous competitor, there were many countries who wished to crush him, stop him before he claimed everything that should belong to them instead – Prussia had been one of them, he had failed. Russia had been one of them, also he had failed.

"You can always ask," Russia answered politely "but I can't promise you anything beforehand" he continued, offering a sweet smile to France.

He could at least listen what France wanted to ask from him. Despite the fact that he was technically a defeated country, France had mostly treated him with the uttermost respect. The same couldn't be said about Prussia, whom France had basically subjugated into his personal kitchen maid after wrestling Poland from him. Not that Russia wouldn't have done the same in his place, the naughty little German really needed to learn his place. And aprons with frills suited him surprisingly well.

"As you know, almost the whole Europe is now either under my direct or undirect control. We can achieve so much more together than separately, so much more lovely opportunities for everyone – be it business or pleasure! You can't even imagine the reforms my boss has planned for all of us," France's voice sounded almost doting.

"But the problem is that there is this certain country who doesn't like this and doesn't understand his own best either." France frowned and looked then at Russia, like encouraging him to guess who he was talking about. The answer was way too easy.

"England?" Russia guessed.

For some reason these two were always fighting. Not that Russia cared, it was only a good thing if possible enemies beat each other into pulp. They would become ripe to pick this way, and maybe someday Russia could teach them to be friends and live in peace. He smiled at the thought.

"Exactly!" France snapped his fingers. Now that we are friends and Prussia is too weak to challenge me, the only obstacle is England, as usually. He will continue to try to stop me as long as he runs free. To defend myself, I need to make him harmless."

A gentle warm wind blew from the river, making the raft they were in sway a little bit. Russia looked into the water, wondering what France could ask from him. His navy couldn't challenge England, England and his brothers ruled the waves, even France couldn't deny that. He decided to continue to play along so he could hear more.

"Da. England always sticks his nose where it doesn't belong, I agree."

France nodded his head "I knew we would understand each other perfectly. It's not easy to bring England on his knees. His home is in a too good spot, he's always protected by the ocean. That's why my boss came up with a brilliant plan – I just need to make the ocean switch sides and make it my ally instead."

Russia tilted his head a little bit and shifted his gaze to an empty glass on the small table beside France. They were only drinking some puny wine, nothing too strong. Nothing that would make France sound so delusional "You mean…?"

"Yes, I mean the plan to isolate him from everyone and everything. Even though I'm pretty sure the old caterpillar eyebrow would love that at first, he would eventually need to crawl to me if he wanted something to eat. He would need to beg me to take him as my underling," France chuckled at the thought.

"But this will fail if I don't get his trading partners on my side. All of them need to stop trading with him, and I mean all, no exceptions. And this is where you come into the picture, mon ami," France winked his eye to Russia "And no, I'm not only asking you to stop trading with him. There's something else I want you to do, too."

"What is it, then? And will Russia get something out of this, too?" Russia asked, still smiling innocently.

"Oh, of course…"

"Poland?"

"No, you can't have Poland, I already told you he's under my protection now and not for sale, even if you own a piece of his lands," France sighed "just listen and let me finish." France said and took something out of the nearby cabinet. Russia watched as he set three pictures on the table.

The first picture had a smirking face of Denmark on it. The country was always looking so confident, Russia had been his ally many times. Norway - his partner - was behind him, gazing something with his empty looking eyes. Russia was almost sure he saw things nobody else did. It was a talent only some countries had. Like Russia's little sister, who said she was able to see ghosts. Or maybe it was madness, nobody knew and nobody cared, they all were mad in their own ways. You weren't able to live forever and stay perfectly sane, after all.

In the second picture was… Portugal? The country looked so much like his neighbor Spain that you needed to look carefully to see the differences between the two of them. The southern nation looked warm and happy. Like something you would like to hug and squeeze, keep forever and persuade him share the warmth with you.

And in the third picture was a face of stoic Sweden, he was one of his old adversaries. Even if it was just a picture, you could feel those cold eyes burrowing into your soul. Behind him you could see Finland – just a nation, not a country - smiling a little bit nervously. Russia liked shy and nervous smiles. Even more he liked to be the cause of shy and nervous smiles.

"These are the European countries who are still trading with England." France interrupted Russia's thoughts "The union of Denmark and Norway, Portugal, and Sweden." France pointed at the pictures.

"I want you to help me to convince them that it's better for them to abandon the alliance with England and become my friends instead. I know you are a master of making people to change their minds, so I'm sure I would succeed with you on my side. Your brutal strength… uh, I mean your excellent negotiation skills would make this a lot easier for me."

So, this was what France had wanted from the very beginning. The task didn't sound too hard, and even if France had said this was nothing important, Russia could hear from his voice that he wanted his help almost desperately. Why not, it could be useful to ally with the current dominant power, at least for now. If France was desperate enough, he could be even ready to pay whatever Russia wanted him to pay for his help.

"That's the least I could do for you, you have been very friendly to me. It could even be fun." Russia shrugged.

"I knew I could trust you… despite what Poland tried to tell me about you…" France murmured the last sentence and almost jumped up from his chair, stepped closed to Russia and touched his arm gently. He took the picture of Sweden from the table with his other hand and moved it closer to Russia's face.

"I think you should make Sweden your first target, I can try to reason with Portugal and Denmark." France whispered in a quiet voice, like being afraid someone could hear them. It was impossible, nobody was able to sneak in the middle of the river without getting caught.

"Use whatever means you need; talk with him, threaten him, start a war with him, kidnap his partner and blackmail him, I don't care what you will need to do," France shook his head, looking a little bit sad.

"If you need to resort to blackmailing, I don't mind if you keep Finland as your reward for your hard work. And this will be only the beginning if you stick with me, I can help you to defeat the Ottoman threat and even more."

France ripped the picture in two, leaving Sweden on the other half, separating him from Finland.

"It would be a shame to end one of the slowest developing love stories ever, a story where one is too socially awkward to tell how he feels and is too afraid to surrender himself to hot, but oh so sweet passion, and the other one is too dense to understand the not-so-subtle hints… but… if it has to be done then it has to be done. This is way too important."

Russia nodded his head, only half-listening France's babbling. He would need to make plans, even if Sweden wasn't as powerful he used to be, he was still unpredictable. He had a bad habit to stay angry a long time after Russia took something from him. And even if Russia wasn't sure was there a love story going on like France had described – France had a bad habit to see love stories everywhere –Sweden was just as interested in having underlings as all the other countries were. The only thing that was sure was that he wouldn't be happy to lose one of them to him again.

"I will do my best." he promised to France with a friendly smile after he saw the man was looking at him expectantly.

"Ah, we need to celebrate this mutual understanding between us. I know, let's order Prussia to bring us some more wine and maybe something to eat," France said, clapping his hands loudly together "all the work can wait until tomorrow!"

* * *

 **Author's note** : This is a pretty old fic which I have started to translate and modify a little bit. I think I already have a little bit similar fanfiction here (unfinished), but it's not the original one and it's a bit messy with all the different characters, so I try to post this here as I haven't done anything for a while.


	2. Worries

Tino swept the floor. Small rocks that had sneaked in with the shoes rolled here and there, trying to get stuck between the floor planks as he wasn't focused on the current cleaning task. Their small house, that had become smaller and smaller during the years, was empty. Only he was home, at least if you didn't count Flower-Egg who was barking something outside again. Tino had taken a broom and started to clean so the time would go faster. He had done this a lot lately.

Berward was nowadays always somewhere, Tino wasn't even sure where because Berward didn't tell him anything important. He only repeated that he didn't want to worry Tino for nothing, and that everything was fine. Everything wasn't fine, hadn't been fine since Berward had become England's ally.

He had had meetings with England, which was completely normal because they were allies. Then his boss - their boss, he was Tino's boss, too - had wanted to talk with Berward, which was also completely normal. But now Russia wanted to have meetings with Berward, too. That too, would have been perfectly normal if Russia had still been England's ally, but because he had switched sides and was now in France's team, it didn't make any sense. It made Tino nervous, especially because he knew Berward was lying to him.

If Berward had problems he should be able to tell about these to him. They were supposed to be two equals, well, at least almost equals. The kingdom held Berward's country name, not his, and nobody else thought him as an equal with him. Which was sometimes really frustrating.

He had once decided to demand Berward to tell what's happening, but his self-confidence had disappeared somewhere when Berward had turned his head and looked him straight in the eyes. He had been already annoyed about something, and the look he had given to him was probably something similar that crazy axe murderers gave to their victims before the fatal blow… not that Tino knew for sure, the victims themselves weren't able to describe the look after they had seen it, and even if Tino had been stabbed with a lot of sharp things in the past and he had lived even after that, an axe hadn't been one of them. So he had no idea what that kind of look was like.

After seeing Tino's face, Berward had turned bright red, probably from anger, and ran away from the scene.

Tino sighed and picked two small rocks up from the floor. Berward was sometimes hard to understand, even after all these years, but he should try to stay calm even when he stared at him. He had never really done anything bad to him, no matter how angrily he had looked at him. But he couldn't help it, it was like a reflex. All the instincts told him to run or defend himself when he looked like that, and even if he had learned to control these feelings better during the years, the old habits returned when he felt something was just… wrong.

Tino heard the front door creak and Flower-Egg ran immediately inside. After her came Berward, looking as worried as he nowadays always looked. Tino hoped he could comfort him somehow, but because he didn't even know what worried him, it was impossible.

"Moi, Sve!" he greeted the man as he put his jacket on the clothes rack "How the meeting with Russia went?" Maybe Berward would feel more talkative this time? He put the broom away, cleaning had been pretty useless work anyway.

"Hmm, not w'll."

Berward just grumbled and shook his head lightly. He then crouched down to pet Flower-Egg as she seemed to demand his attention, without taking his eyes out of Tino. The little dog rolled happily over for some belly rubs.

"So…," Tino started, determined to get at least some information about the meeting. If he asked casually enough maybe Berward would feel he could reveal at least something to him.

"You didn't reach the consensus? About whatever you were talking about…? You were talking about something, right? Or at least Russia was doing the most talking, ahaha? I mean, what else you could have done, it's not like you wrestled with bears or something crazy like that…"

Argh, he was babbling nonsense again, he did that when he was nervous. Berward knew about this, he would surely stay quiet now. Tino got a look from Berward that was possibly worried, but soon his expression hardened again.

"I can't st'y for long. His Majesty wishes to see m' soon." Berward said and stood up when Flower-Egg finally got tired of the petting and ran in to the kitchen, probably in hope of finding something tastier to eat than what Tino had given to her earlier today. Berward walked then closer to Tino, close enough to touch.

"Everything will continue like this, then?"

"Hm," Berward nodded and pulled Tino into an embrace. Berward did this quite often, Tino had noticed. He didn't really mind, and if this made his mind calmer it was a good thing.

"I h'pe you remember…," he continued suddenly "what I told you ab'ut Sveaborg?"

"Impossible to forget, Sve," Tino laughed, also because Berward's breathing made him tickle.

"You remind me about it every time you leave somewhere… without telling me what's going on."

He tried once again, even if he was worried he started to sound like a nagging… well, not a wife. Something else, maybe a roommate? No, that sounded weird, too. Berward sometimes called him jokingly his wife, but he didn't really understand the joke. They weren't married, this wasn't even a union, and what made him the wife? His shortness?

Berward ignored his subtle question and continued "Good. I w'nt you to go there if something unusual happens wh'n I'm gone. You need to remember th't."

Tino raised his head so he could see Berward's face better. Berward had built Sveaborg especially for him. It was a huge fortress, and according to Berward, the safest place in the whole kingdom. Sturdy stone walls, cannons, soldiers, and the location kept unwanted visitors at bay. It was supposed to be a safe place, but Tino also felt like a prisoner when he was there.

Berward knew Tino couldn't leave the people behind if something happened, so it was built as a compromise. Berward wanted him to lock himself there and wait until the danger was over.

"I knew something dangerous was going on. You're just saying everything is fine." Tino felt Berward's body twitch when he ended the sentence.

"Not necess'ry," Berward denied "Not for you, at least. I'm worried ab'ut Denmark."

"Denmark?"

This was nothing new, Tino thought, there were always problems with Denmark. But Berward hadn't mentioned him in a long time. Not after their king had talked about plans to capture Norway from Denmark. He had seemed to be pretty obsessed with the idea, Tino wasn't sure what he should think about it. It didn't feel good when your own king sometimes looked at you like you were his possible enemy just because you were different than the rest of his kingdom, and looked at your enemy like he was a friend only because he resembled Sve more than you did.

He wasn't even able to prove his loyalty because Sve stubbornly refused to give him more information.

Berward nodded his head, and gently moved Tino's hair out of the way so he could give him a light kiss on his forehead. Berward liked to do that, too.

"Russia t'lks a lot, and tries to sound scary, but app'rently it's Denmark who has actual battle pl'ns." Tino listened, he felt a hand caressing his back, lightly, like he could burn his fingers if he weren't careful enough. This was more information than he had received in months.

"Denmark is France's ally now." Berward continued.

"Really?" Tino had always known that France was... popular, but that popular? Even Denmark had fallen into his charm? Denmark wasn't occupied, at least Tino hadn't heard any news about something like that, so it must mean he was his ally voluntarily. Apparently power sometimes made people irresistible.

"I don't think anything will happen h're, but I want you to be careful. Just in case, the t'mes are uncertain."

Tino squirmed out of the embrace, gently but at the same time determinedly. A disappointment was visible on Berward's face when he let go of him, but only briefly. Something he had said had probably made Tino alarmed, he always talked too much, Berward cursed in his mind.

"Let me come with you then." Tino asked. "It's not only your problem, let me help you. When you're hurt, I'm hurt too."

"I would love you to c'me with me, believe me, if the situation was different," Berward chuckled dryly "But there's no need to m'ke the whole kingdom al'rmed. It's just Denmark."

"And Norway." Tino added "And who knows, maybe even France. And his new underlings. You won't make it if there will be so many enemies at the same time. They will rip you to pieces, 'glue' the pieces back together and take you their prisoner, you need assistance. I'm a volunteer."

"Nej."

"´No´ is your last word?"

"Ja."

"Please?" Tino tried with a lovely smile.

"No. You stay h're and go to Sveaborg if som'thing bad happens. You know where the secret p'ssage is located." Berward said and grabbed a hold on Tino's shoulder after he noticed the smaller man's face turned to look more stubborn. Tino startled, but remained in place.

"I'm not that helpless." Tino mumbled, lowering his head "I have been on your side in almost all the battles before."

"I kn'w," Berward said but continued with a voice full of authority "But th's was an order. If you don't do like I sa'd, I will need to tell the soldiers to lock you th're immediately."

"You can't be serious!" It had been like this already for months. Berward was stressed, and tried to boss him around, even though he tried to assure him that they were two equals. "You want to imprison me?"

"No." Berward was starting to get frustrated, this was hard to explain. He didn't want to lock Tino up by force. He wanted that Tino would understand his own best. "This is also what our boss w'nts. It's only for your s'fety. I can't defy our king, you know th't."

Tino shook his head lightly "I understand that. But first you tell me that for some reason it's possible that half of Europe will come after you, and then you tell me to go to hide into some moldy fortress. You should think about your safety, too."

"It's not moldy, it's brand n'w. And I shouldn't have t'ld you anything, you always exaggerate things and worry about everything."

Tino rolled his eyes "No, you should tell me everything, so I wouldn't need to imagine everything in my head using only small hints to put everything together." Tino chuckled softly, he had already calmed down. Berward was Berward, he probably couldn't help it.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, trying to change the subject. He didn't want pressure Berward too much about the subject, it usually made him become completely silent.

"Hmm?"

"Your journey was long and probably tiring. I cooked already earlier, and wanted to try something new for a change. I found out that mixing apples and perch wasn't probably the best idea, but we shouldn't waste any food… and Flower-Egg ran outside when I tried to offer it to her… so, there's a lot of salted perch-apple stew left. I already ate, it… didn't taste like I wanted it to taste." Tino pouted, looking sad.

"Yes." Berward nodded his head while his brains screamed 'no'! He wasn't hungry, at least not hungry for food, but he couldn't say no when he looked like that. He had eaten already on the way home, and Tino's new recipe sounded almost as bad as that lingonberry-turnip-cheese jam he had once tried to create, Berward thought, they had eaten it for days.

"Great! I will get you a plate." Tino's face shined with an excited light, like it did every time someone was ready to taste his new recipes, and he hurried in to the kitchen. Flower-Egg decided to leave as soon as she saw him coming, but Berward couldn't do the same, he had to bravely follow him.

"So, are you starving or just a little bit hungry?" Tino asked when Berward sat down at their wooden table. There was a jar full of birch branches on the table, but even them weren't enough to make the kitchen smell good. He saw Tino holding a kettle that was full of something that looked like a brownish slime.

"Just… a little bit h'ngry."

"Are you sure?" Tino tilted his head "You will feel much better if you eat well." He said and filled Berward's plate. Berward poked his food with a spoon while Tino sat down at the table, too. "Th'nks."

"It tastes a lot better than it looks, not like I wanted it to taste, but it's not that bad. Just different and… special." Tino said when he saw that Berward was hesitating. Berward swallowed slowly, and decided that if the lingonberry-cheese jam didn't kill him, this wouldn't do it either and put the spoon in his mouth.

The taste of something sweet, salty and very fish-like filled his mouth. It was something specially horrifying, really different and definitely bad. He tried to swallow it fast as he was afraid he would gag it out if he didn't do so, and Tino was right there, observing his reaction to the food. He wondered how he could convince Tino that Berward should do all the cooking without hurting his feelings. Tino could concentrate on baking if he wanted to continue his hobby, he usually never screwed that up and sometimes even resisted the urge to mix everything weird together.

"I guess it's too strong for you?" Tino asked, eyes full of worry and Berward wondered did his face turn green or something.

"Not at all." Berward blurted "Just… s'prising."

"That's exactly what I thought! I was afraid it would be too much for you, but I should have known, you like surströmming after all."

Surströmming was really good compared to this, Berward thought and nibbled his food, for some reason Tino hated surströmming, you would have thought that he would have liked fermented fish "How w's your day?"

"Like usually, really. I cleaned, chopped some wood, and was out fishing so I could make this very same dish you're eating right now. And hoped you would return home, of course. It's a bit lonely without you, you know?"

Berward was happy to hear that, at least Tino liked his company.

"Flower-Egg is with me, but it's not the same, she never talks back to me. Oh, and squirrels and rabbits seem to irritate her more than usually, she is constantly barking at them. It's good we live far away from everybody, at least we don't have angry neighbors complaining about her."

No, their small wooden house didn't have any neighbors near, but they themselves had some very angry neighbors right now, Berward didn't want to think about them. He put his spoon on the plate that was still very full of the brown stuff. Tino glanced at him.

"Is… something wrong?"

"No. It's j'st very filling. I'm not h'ngry anymore." Tino looked confused and eyed Berward's plate and then his spoon for a while before his eyes opened wide open. Had he accidentally developed a recipe for a super food that made you feel instantly full, Berward was sure he was thinking something weird like that. Great, even more lies, their relationship seemed to be full of them.

"I can save the rest f'r… uh, breakfast."

For breakfast? Berward wondered why he prolonged his doom. He really had to eat it in the morning, he decided, he didn't want to drown in the lies. He sighed and pushed the plate further away from him.

"You rem'mber when I said our boss w'nts to see me soon?"

Tino nodded his head, now listening more carefully.

"He w'nts a full report about the meeting between Russia and me, and he wants it now. I'm leaving tomorrow m'rning."

"Oh?" Tino frowned "Is it necessary for you to go? Can't you send a messenger?"

"The information I have is too confidential." Berward said and hoped Tino would be satisfied with his answer.

"Information about Denmark?"

"Hmm."

"I bet you're still hiding things from me." Tino tried to sound teasing, but couldn't hide the worry from his eyes.

Berward glanced embarrassedly down. He was hiding a lot of things from Tino. The situation was serious, more serious than it had been in years. It was true that Russia was probably harmless at the moment, he was warring with the Ottoman Empire and couldn't make any moves right now, at least he hoped so. But there was a really the possibility that France and his friends would attack against the kingdom if he wouldn't abandon his alliance with England. He wanted to keep Tino out of this mess as long as possible.

He wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything if he knew they could take him as their target to get Berward.

Then there were, of course, old things that he hadn't told to him, like how he loved Tino. That wouldn't happen today, he needed to gather more courage for that, even hundreds of years hadn't been enough. Even the thought made his cheeks turn red. Why it needed to be so hard!

Their current relationship wasn't enough for him, he wanted more. He wanted to have a family! Yes, he wanted to have children with Tino, even if he was perfectly aware that it would be impossible even if they weren't nations.

He wanted this to be a real marriage, not just an ordinary relationship between nations. He wanted to be more like those ordinary, little people living their humble lives. Not that he didn't want to be also a country, no, he wanted the best of the both words. And he knew that his dream was almost impossible, but that didn't stop him from trying to achieve it. But he couldn't tell this to Tino, what if he didn't want the same? It was easier to continue like this, at least he was able to pretend they were a married couple.

So he stayed quiet this time too.

"I will be right b'ck. I will tell everything I know to our boss and then head r'ght back here."

* * *

 **Author's note** : I made them use their human names when they live together and don't need to be so official and country names when it's all about business.


	3. From Bad to Worse

Russia's fingers tapped the shiny, wooden surface of his table. It was full of different papers and reports, his boss wanted him to read and memorize all of them by noon. He hated paperwork, it was too bureaucratic, but he was the only one who had permission to read these "top-secret" papers, so he couldn't delegate the job for anyone else. Too bad, Toris or Eduard would have had time. Especially Eduard loved boring papers, Russia would have done him a favor by giving all of these to him.

This was all Sweden's fault, all of these papers had something to do with him.

Sweden had turned out to be a more stubborn country than he had first thought. Nothing Russia said made him react in any way. If the situation was different it could be fun to try to make him lose his calm demeanor, but he was too busy for that right now. France demanded results. Ottoman wanted to crush him, he wanted to crush Ottoman and make him his personal footstool.

Denmark had been a piece of cake. France and he didn't even need to threaten Denmark, he had been ready to join to France's alliance immediately when France had asked him to do so. England had been a very bad boy, he had destroyed Denmark's navy just because Denmark didn't want to sign a defense treaty with him. So now Denmark was in a full revenge mode. The best punishment for England was to force him to surrender himself to France. And because Norway and Iceland lived in the same household, they naturally had to follow Denmark's whims.

Portugal had been full of defiance at first. He and England have always been friends, maybe even more if you were naïve enough to believe all the rumors and secret whispers about them. They were a strange duo, it was hard to believe they had anything in common. But probably there was something, as they had been friends for a very long time now, and neither of them had ever had the need to kidnap the other in order to keep their friendship. That was pretty rare.

But in the end Portugal had to give up and accept France's demand to abandon England completely. Obedience hadn't helped him at all, according to France, Portugal had kept him waiting for a too long time, and he had ordered his men to occupy his lands and he had captured the country for himself. Russia was almost sure France had planned to do this no matter what Portugal decided to do. One more underling for France whom he could try to woo to surrender to him completely and stop all the resistance.

And then there was Sweden, the only obstacle they still had left. He drove both him and France crazy.

Russia had wasted almost a year with him. But Sweden didn't want to have anything to do with France and even less with Russia. Sweden didn't like France's current habit to capture as much weaker countries into his house as possible, as if there was something wrong with it, it was something that empires did.

Sweden was a hypocrite, Russia thought in his mind. It's not like Sweden didn't do the same before Russia defeated him and wrestled his status as a great power away from him. Sweden had done it already back then when Russia had been just a tiny, little country. He remembered how he had to run through the forests, how the tree branches hit his face while he escaped, he heard Sweden's footsteps somewhere behind him. He had had a shiny sword in his hand…

Maybe Sweden begged to be punished?

Russia drew circles with his finger on the table. He could, of course, kidnap Finland and then blackmail Sweden to join to alliance with France by using him. Taking Finland as hostage had worked before, some decades ago the grumpy old kingdom had agreed to all his conditions just to get his little nation unharmed back home – at least almost unharmed, Russia had to admit, but back home anyway.

He took a paper from the top of the stack. It had the latest information from his spies about the movements of Sweden and Finland. Despite being "the latest information" it was in reality several days old. The flow of information was frustratingly slow even today

. . .

 **4:40 P.M.** \- Finland returns home from the lake.

 **5:18 P.M.** \- Odd smell is coming out of the house. Poisonous gas? A new secret weapon? The dog rushes out, Finland however stays in, so it's probably not dangerous?

 **6:00 P.M.** \- The dog still keeps barking at us. Luckily, Finland doesn't seem to think its barking is something unusual. Bribing it with pieces of meat hasn't worked at all.

 **8:25 P.M.** \- Sweden arrives home from our Empire, the dog runs after him. The targets are talking about something, movement can be seen through the windows.

 **9:01 P.M.** \- The targets leave from our sight, both stay inside the house.

 **9:02 P.M.** \- The curtains are pulled together in in the other room.

 **5:03 A.M.** \- Sweden leaves to see his king. Finland stays at home with the dog.

. . .

The rest of the report was about Sweden's journey. This meant that Finland was home alone right now, and would be probably a long time, even if the report was a little bit outdated. The little details like these were important if he was going to act, he didn't need hundreds of papers full of useless information. Who in his administration wanted to write everything down and drown him in paper?

The next paper was about Sveaborg, it had all the details about this strong fortress, how it was the biggest obstacle if someone wanted to attack Sweden from the east. It was so showy and strong looking it would certainly be the number one target for anyone who wanted to invade the country. It had some nice ports, too.

There was just one problem with these invasion plans. Or maybe several problems.

For starters, his boss didn't want him to start a new war, the old war with the Ottoman Empire was still going on. And starting a war just to help France didn't sound very nice, Russia wouldn't do it for free, so he couldn't return Finland to Sweden. And Sweden would most likely start to bother him sooner or later after he would realize Russia had no intention to give Finland back to him even if he and France become the best friends forever.

Maybe Russia could usher an old enemy of Sweden to bother him instead, Sweden would be so busy trying to survive that he would need to leave Russia alone, and just accept what had happened…

And secondly, he didn't like how France thought he could boss him around, he didn't like it at all. He had become more demanding.

France also seemed to want everybody under his roof and he wanted Russia's help to achieve this dream, even when Russia thought this was his privilege. Everybody should be one with Russia, not one with France, that didn't even sound good. Even Poland had escaped under his wing. But France didn't know Poland, Poland meant trouble if you weren't strict with him, sooner or later he would burn his house down, accidentally or not. And France probably pampered him because for some reason Poland worshipped France.

If he started a war, would it help France to reach his goal faster? Should he leave the opportunity unused because of this? This option didn't sound good, either.

Russia sighed and pushed the piles of paper off the desk, only some of them hit his wastepaper basket. He knew all the important details already, he could just tell to the boss he had memorized everything. He knew what he should do if his boss would give him permission to act.

It was all up to his boss now.

. . .

Sweden walked through the yard towards his boss's palace, he had been lucky enough to get here before it started to rain again. He hated to submit reports, but even more he hated to do so when he was soaking wet and cold.

The guard soldiers let him go through the palace gates and opened even door to him, as they instinctively recognized him as their own country when they saw him. Sweden politely nodded his head to them, which made some new arrivals to startle when they saw his gaze. Sweden was able to hear their superior berate them for their improper behavior as he continued to walk forward, but he ignored the noise. It was nothing unusual, after all, and he had other things in his mind.

Sweden tried to collect his thoughts and form an easily understandable summary about his meetings with Russia for his boss, when a small assistant of the king hurried beside him. The tiny, thin man who had magnificent mustache hesitated for a moment, like he always did, but started to talk then.

"His Majesty wants to inform you, that he is ready to meet his noble country right away." the little man bowed his head a little bit "This way, if I may ask, his Majesty waits you in the main room." he pointed to the left and started then to walk towards the said direction without waiting Sweden's answer.

Sweden followed the assistant with his gaze for a while, he was surprisingly fast. Sweden needed to hurry his steps so that he could keep up with him, even when he knew very well where the particular main room was located. He had been there probably more times than he could count, only the bosses changed from time to time.

Two new guards opened the heavy, decorated door when they arrived to their destination, and behind them Sweden saw his current boss waiting beside a small table and some really uncomfortable looking chairs.

Sweden wasn't sure what he should think about this boss. On the other hand, he was his boss, he wanted to serve, protect and bring Him honor. But sometimes Sweden wasn't sure what he was thinking. Once he had explained that France's current boss Napoleon was the Antichrist, and he would leave his name in the history books by destroying the Napoleonic beast, even if that meant the destruction of Sweden and Finland. That was probably the reason why he didn't feel like talking about security concerns Sweden thought Finland could have, he was completely obsessed with France and especially with his boss.

The assistant coughed, like wanting their attention. Then he bowed again, and left the two of them alone in the room.

"Sweden!" the king greeted him by nodding his head lightly to him "I'm glad you are finally here."

Sweden bowed "Your majesty."

"So," the boss started and invited Sweden to sit down with him "Tell us everything. If you know something that could help us to beat the beast, you need to tell about it to us immediately."

Sweden tried to set himself to sit comfortably on the chair, but it was full of carvings and knobs which made the chair look really pretty, but not very practical to use. They should let him build new furniture here, he thought, something simple but stylish. It would be way easier than his current job to explain everything to king, he wasn't very good at it.

"Ab'ut meetings with Russia,"

"Yes, yes," the king said impatiently "Continue."

"Like you know, at the beginning he was v'ry friendly, I was s'rved different courses of dishes, and a lot of different dr'nks," Sweden hadn't dared to drink too much, he was afraid Russia could try to get him drunk and then make him agree on everything he wanted. He had done so even if Russia had said he was a bit disrespectful towards his host.

"He wanted me to ally w'th France, and stop trading w'th England,"

"Insolent behavior! The trade is important for us. And how he dares to try to lure you on the side of the devil. They should watch their tongue if they don't want to lose it."

Sweden hoped that he wouldn't be interrupted all the time. He couldn't say that out aloud, though.

"That w's the first meeting. Gradually, the meetings become m're hostile" Russia would often start to talk about how it was a pity that Sweden wasn't one of the great powers anymore, and how vulnerable he was nowadays without strong friends. Anything could happen to him if he angered a wrong person. There were people who could make countries disappear from the map. And that creepy smile, it never left from his otherwise innocent looking face.

"He would t'lk about Finland in a v'ry disturbing way, but I think he probably just w'nted to make me feel as nervous as possible."

"Our eastern citizens live in a dangerous place," his boss merely stated "Sveaborg was built because of it, it's invincible. Russia wouldn't dare to do anything unpredictable, we are still a tough opponent! And his emperor is my relative, after all."

Sweden nodded, he had visited Sveaborg many times when it was still under construction. It was really a spectacular place. But he didn't agree with his last sentence, through the ages relatives had been at war with each other. Family relationships didn't matter that much, and in some cases the family was the worst.

"Is the tr'de with England and his br'thers really that important for us?" Sweden asked, making his king to look at him almost murderously "Is it w'rth all this trouble?"

"Sweden, my dear country! Don't say that France has infested you with his revolutionary flu, too? We can never allow that."

"No. My loyalty belongs only to you, your h'ghness. I was j'st… asking."

"Good. But are you sure you can say the same about Finland? His place is swarming with dirty separatists, or so we have heard." His boss glanced at Sweden, this time more questioningly.

"No." There were some people that couldn't be trusted, like everywhere else, but swarming? No. His boss was almost paranoid when it came to revolutionaries.

"And you know this, how?"

"He is my wif… I mean, I l've with him. I'm sure I know him w'll enough."

"Never mind." king waved his palm and turned his head away "If you say so, I don't need to know the details. Let's continue…"

"Hm."

Luckily his current boss wasn't one of those more curious ones. One of his predecessors had wanted him to tell all the details about their relationship and everything about Sweden's dreams about family and why he called Finland his wife. In a way, his rare human sympathy towards Sweden's dreams had been comforting, but he didn't like to tell his personal matters to outsiders. Too curious bosses were usually a menace.

"We have noticed that Denmark has started to gather his troops to Norway's place. We have also received observations of him and Norway coming near the border and sometimes even over it. We can't really stop them because we don't know do they have bad intentions."

Provoking them for nothing could start a war because the situation was very tense right now, Sweden pondered. All conflicts with them should be avoided at all cost.

"But maybe it would be only a good thing if they actually did have bad intentions." His boss continued, smirking now happily.

"Wh't?!"

"Think about it! We would then finally have a good motive to capture Norway from our hostile neighbor. With him in our team, we would get to know everything about him and Denmark, and we would finally to be able to crush Denmark. With the strengthened troops and resources, we could take down even France and the incarnation of evil he calls his boss."

"I don't w'nt to sound disrespectful…" Sweden started, not sure how he should continue. The plan was too risky in a situation like this, and their last attempt against France had been a disaster "But shouldn't we w'it until the situation calms a little bit? Our soldiers could need m're training, too."

"Oh? You think so?" his boss frowned "I guess you know your own strength the best."

Sweden almost sighed with relief, he had been afraid his boss had lost his sense of reality completely. But he didn't like what he heard next.

"But we still think we should follow carefully how the situation develops here. We want you to lead and give instructions to our soldiers about the current situation. We have prepared a guest room for you. Feel free to ask anything from the maids, they have been instructed to obey your every command."

"Instructions? I thought I could leave h'me as soon as possible…"

"A week or two is not too much to ask, don't you think? And you said our soldiers could need more training and you know their strength the best."

His boss said with a voice that implied that he wanted to end their little meeting, he had heard everything he thought was worth of hearing, and he would not hear any buts from his country. Sweden rose from his chair, happily because he finally got rid of the cause of his back pain, and bowed once again to his boss before he left from the room. It was disappointing that he needed to stay here longer than he had thought, but it was probably wise. Who knew what Denmark and Norway were up to, all their borders needed to be secured.

The little assistant rushed right away to him, asking would he like to go to his room right away or do something else, perhaps eat something before he would go to bed.

Yes, he wanted to eat, the kitchen staff here knew what they were doing. But after that he would like to burrow his head into pillows, which also were a top class here, and hope he would get some sleep this time. He had feel himself tired for a long time, unpleasant thoughts usually filled his head when he was supposed to get some rest.


	4. Attack and unexpected enemies

A red drop of blood fell on the table.

"Perkuleen… perkele!" Tino cursed and put the wounded finger in his mouth. Maybe he shouldn't scale and salt fish when his thoughts were completely elsewhere, Tino thought. He finished his task absentmindedly and decided to continue tomorrow, the fish would stay perfectly good outside.

"Remember, these aren't for you, Flower-Egg." Tino said to the dog as he buried the rest of the fish under the snow. With good luck, any other animal wouldn't come so close to their house.

Flower-Egg ignored him, she stared somewhere in the nearby forest. Something about her behavior made Tino shiver, she had acted strangely for week now. Tino tried to see what she was seeing, but there was only darkness. Probably a bear, or maybe a wolfpack, Tino decided, the fish wouldn't necessary be safe, after all.

"Come inside, girl. They should rather eat the fish than you." he said to the dog, she sniffed her nose loudly, but obeyed the command nevertheless.

Tino closed the door and checked then the finger he had cut earlier. It was already almost normal, you were only able to see a faint red scar, and in a few hours, it would disappear completely. One of the benefits of being a nation, Tino thought, even though it still hurt. And his fast healing also told to him that everything should be fine in with his people. Flower-Egg's behavior had just made him a little bit jumpy, that's all.

"The whole house is ours again and I'm already starting to feel paranoid, Flower." Tino chuckled and sat on a soft and colorful rag rug that was on the floor near the fireplace. Flower-Egg decided to curl next to him, and Tino started to pet her head gently.

"It's nice to have you here, at least I have someone to talk with when Berward is gone. Not that I couldn't talk with the townsfolk, but they wouldn't necessary understand all the nation related stuff. It would be way too confusing for them." Not to mention that he didn't know them well enough, and he always felt a little bit anxious among strangers.

It was fun to talk with Berward. Tino could talk with him for hours about the little details that had happened yesterday or years ago. He wanted to ponder things through and through with him, and Berward would always at least pretend to look interested, and sometimes he even told his opinion about the matter. He was a good listener. Actually, he was pretty good at many things.

He had very handy hands. He had made most of their furniture and even the clothes Tino was wearing right now. His wounds also healed faster than Tino's, and that probably made Berward worried. He tried to protect him from dangerous situations, and that had become even worse lately because they had suffered some major setbacks in wars. Those had made them both weaker, but Berward was a country and that status protected him.

"You know," he told to the dog "I have sometimes wondered what it would like to a real country."

Flower-Egg raised her head, Tino nodded his head to her, he was almost sure she understood everything. He chuckled dryly before he continued.

"Don't tell that to the boss, he would consider it as a proof of my treachery." He said, but wasn't sure did the thought really make him a traitor. It was just a thought, he wasn't going to start a revolution or anything, so it was nothing, right?

"It's sometimes really calming to be alone and be able to whatever you want to do. But at times, you just want to have someone close to you. Lifespan of ordinary humans is way too short, we need each other, we countries. I think I would miss Berward too much."

Tino turned to look at Flower-Egg, he wanted to see what she thought about the matter, but to his surprise she wasn't listening anymore. She stood stiff-legged, clearly listening to something Tino couldn't hear. The sight made cold shivers go down his spine again.

"Is there someone? Do you know something I don't know, Flower?" He asked and regretted it almost immediately. The question made her to yap. Then she ran to the door, scratching it, like wanting to show him something now that Tino had finally understood to ask the reason for her odd behavior.

For a moment Tino just stared at her, different thoughts were swirling in his mind. So, there really was something or someone who shouldn't be there? But who would bother to keep an eye of their house?

"Is it a bear, girl? They don't usually make you act this way. No?" Tino walked slowly to the door, following barking Flower-Egg. When he opened it to take a peek outside, she ran immediately towards the nearby woods.

"Hey, don't go there! Wait for me!"

Tino glanced around and took then a sturdy log from the nearby wood pile, just in case, and hurried after her. Maybe it was just an overly-eager fan of countries stalking their house, Tino hoped in his mind. It was so cold he was able to see his breath, every fast-paced inhale made his lungs hurt, and it was also so dark he could barely see anything, he was blindly following Flower-Egg's barking, dodging trees as he run.

Soon he also heard a sound of breaking branches, as if someone had run thought the frozen bushes, and then someone's fast footsteps, muffled by the snow. Something or someone had realized that Tino was approaching and had decided to flee from the scene. Tino stopped running when he arrived to a clearing in the middle of the trees. It looked like someone had used it as a camping site, the campfire was still alight, but a kettle of water had fallen to the ground.

So, a human, Tino thought, he had so hoped it would have been a bear who had forgotten to go to sleep for winter. Someone had clearly been here for a long time, and judging from the fact that he had run away instead of stayed and explained why he was here, it was possible that his intentions were not good. There was no way Tino would follow him deeper into to the dark forest, he had a log, but the man could have something sharped.

"Flower-Egg! Stop! Come back right now!"

He yelled to the distance, who knows what he would do to her now that Tino had found his hiding place. To his relief, the little dog returned to him, looking a little bit disappointed because Tino hadn't let her to stop the man. Or woman. Tino didn't even know had they been here alone or had there been a group of people.

"Let's go, girl." Tino told to the dog. There was no way they could stay home after this. The man, whoever he was, could return. He couldn't be a thief waiting for the opportunity to empty their house, as he could have done so several times by now.

Unfortunately, they would need to wait until the morning, they couldn't travel when it was still so dark outside. They would need to go back inside, barricade the house and keep guard. Tino should be ready to use force if necessary, this night was going to be a long one…

...

Russia examined the view in front of him with care. His troops had gathered at the border already earlier, but only now his boss had given permission to actually use them. The wind blew the snow and Russia's scarf here and there, the weather was freezing and darkness surrounded everything, hiding every rock, tree or human inside it. It was very unusual for any country to attack during winter, but this just happened to be the perfect moment to do so.

Sweden was still far away from home, and nobody was excepting a surprise attack from this direction. It would also be really hard for Sweden to return home, Russia had made sure of it. Poor Sweden would be so confused when he would find out what, or maybe he should say who, was waiting for him, Russia chuckled to himself. He wished he could see his face when that happened, but unfortunately it was impossible.

And that wasn't all. The sea was frozen between Sweden and Finland, like it usually was in February. Ships could not travel across it before it would melt again. So, this side of the kingdom wouldn't get any reinforcements before the very late spring. They would have plenty of time to tie and gag Finland up and drag him away, Sweden wouldn't be able to help him.

Russia started to walk towards the main commander of his armed forces. The snow crunched unpleasantly beneath his boots, he didn't like this cold stuff at all, but unfortunately it seemed to love him. Snow was similar with Natalya, he found himself thinking. Except, he did like her and didn't want to crush her under his boots, she was his sister after all, but he did not like her the way she wanted him to like. Russia shuddered at the thought.

Russia and the commander exchanged greetings when Russia finally reached him.

"I hope you remember your orders. You should try to avoid hurting Finland as much as possible, Sweden is the main target who we will crush completely for his disobedience."

"Yes, sir!"

"I'm going to keep Finland, and it doesn't make much sense to destroy something you need to fix back together later. Too messy, costly and slow, like the boss would say."

"You are going to keep him, sir? But…" the commander started bravery, but Russia interrupted him, still trying to scan the dark scenery.

"Yes, I know, I know. I was supposed to blackmail Sweden using Finland to do so. But what would I get out of it? Everybody will eventually become one with Russia, so why should I always return what I catch? It's much easier to capture Finland, grab Sweden from his throat and squeeze until he turns nicely purple and agrees to become France's best friend."

The commander listened carefully, without trying to interrupt him this time. He was talking a little bit too casually about strangling someone for his taste, and he wished he could move his own throat further away from him as soon as possible.

"I'm sure the boss won't protest if we are quick enough, and even France seemed to be fine with this. He said I can use any means I want to, so why not." Russia smiled.

The commander nodded to him and smiled back nervously.

"Oh, and if you see Finland, don't try to capture him himself. He may look like a small and cute young man, but he is a personification of this land. Small wounds won't stop him because we can heal them quickly, and 'killing' him, even for temporary as he can't really die, not at least that easily, would count as causing him heavy damage, which we need to avoid if possible."

The commander wished he could just start to do his job, the things his country told to him sounded too supernatural for him.

"You can't handle him on his own territory, at least not before their soldiers surrender and you have occupied every piece of the land that counts as his, only then he becomes vulnerable enough for you. However, I want to make him harmless and out of the way already before that happens, and that's why I hope I can get information about his movements fast enough, so I can personally take care of him. After that we have to deal with Sweden, he has probably played enough with his friend by then."

"His… friend, sir?"

"Ah, it's just a little surprise I have arranged for him. It's always nice to see your old friends, don't you agree?"

Russia said to him with a happy, sing-a-song voice and turned to look at him with bright eyes. He didn't even except the nervous looking commander to answer to his question, the poor man didn't understand a word he was telling to him.

"Is everything ready?" Russia changed the subject.

"Yes, sir. The attack is scheduled to start at 6 A.M. Everything is ready and in order, sir." He was happy he was finally able to return back to his own comfort zone. This was something he was good at. He didn't ask aloud why on earth they needed to have this another Siberia, he would do what was excepted from him, and he would ignore everything else.

"Good."

...

Berward made his horse trot faster.

He didn't want to make it completely exhausted before he could switch to another horse and continue the journey with it, but he was in a hurry. For some reason he had a bad feeling, something wasn't right. He and Finland, they both were basically the same land, when something was wrong with Finland he was able to feel it and the other way around, too. And because everything was fine here, something had to be wrong in the eastern part of the kingdom.

Nobody in the palace was able to tell anything to him, and it had made Berward to curse the bad connections. At least the boss had finally let him leave, they had excepted Denmark's attack, but he was most likely waiting the weather to get better before he would do so.

Just a few hours, and he would arrive to the horse stables and get a new, well-rested horse, Berward kept reminding himself as he rode along the snowy path. He was so concentrated on the thought that he didn't pay much attention to his surroundings, and that's why his brains didn't have time to register what happened next.

His horse suddenly reared up and whinnied in terror. Berward fell from the saddle and tumbled to the frosty ground, grunting from pain.

For a moment, he just lay flat on his back, trying to understand what just happened. Blurry snowflakes fell from the sky towards his face, melting when they touched his warm skin, and his back hurt so bad. That didn't last long, though, and soon his thoughts become clearer. He sat up and began to look for his glasses from the snow. Luckily, they were still intact and after he had clumsily dried them to his sleeve he was able to see what had scared his horse so badly.

Two tree trunks had fallen on the road simultaneously, just before Berward had arrived and blocked the route. Berward rose calmly up and cleaned his clothes from the snow. There was nothing normal about the situation, two birch trees did not fall down just like that. And he had a hunch on what had happened.

"Come out!" Berward yelled to the seeming emptiness "I know you are there, I can feel your presence already!"

At first, he heard laughter from the woods and then he saw two characters, two familiar characters, but not friends, no, not anymore. Maybe several centuries ago they had been friends, but things had changed when they had grown.

"How's it going, Sweden?" Denmark smirked. Norway was with him, Berward was almost sure his magical creatures had made the trees fall just at the right time, he didn't want to believe that Denmark would have been so fast with his ridiculous axe he usually carried with him.

"What do you w'nt?" Berward snapped "I'm in a hurry."

"Always as impolite," Denmark sighed theatrically and shook his head. "Do you think we should tell to Swedey why we are here, buddy? "He turned to ask from Norway, who had been quiet until now.

"No, we should have left before he even realized we are here, but it would have been too easy solution for you." He stated calmly.

"That's my Lukas, always so practical. But that would not have been fun." Denmark shrugged, and turned then to look at Sweden again. He raised his right hand and then lowered it to point at Sweden.

"As an ally of France, my job is to keep you here and prevent you from continuing your journey. You can choose any path you want, but who knows, maybe a bridge will break down before you can go over it. Or perhaps an avalanche will freeze you on your track."

"Why?" Berward growled, clenching his fists.

"What do you mean?" Denmark tilted his head questioningly "Why I'm on France's side? Maybe because that ill-natured tea drinker – England, if you didn't get it – attacked me! He attacked me, and sunk my navy, so his enemies are my friends now. And of course, I still have old grudges towards you, too."

"No. Why you don't let me c'ntinue?"

"Oh, that. You are so hard to understand sometimes, you speak too little." Denmark smirked. Berward was almost sure he was just playing with him.

"You have something that Russia wants, and he doesn't want you there to bother him… what now, why so horrified expression?"

"Out of my w'y! Or do you want to f'ght?" Berward was only barely able to restrain his anger, didn't Denmark understand what Russia meant or didn't he just care?

"Sweden, Sweden, Sweden, do you really want to attack us?" Denmark sneered and waved his finger at him. "That would be a declaration of war, and you would need to use your troops against France, Russia, Norway and me. I haven't yet decided will I declare war at you, at the moment I just like to make you feel uncomfortable."

Berward's instincts told him to punch Denmark first and think about the consequences later, but after forcing himself to calm down, he turned around and started to walk back where he had come from. He couldn't continue without his horse anyway, it had run somewhere, and he would need to find it before he could try to go past the duo again.

"And once so great Sweden is forced to retreat!" Berward heard Denmark to announce. Norway glared at Denmark, he was happy that at least Emil was able to stay out of this mess.


	5. Failure

"So… your war plan is to retreat as much as possible and leave me at the mercy of the enemy?"

Tino had reached the commander-in-chief of the local troops. Now he was sitting in his small office, listening to his report about the current situation with disbelief. The enemy had crossed the border during the early morning, but there had been no battles so far.

"No, not really. We will leave soldiers to some fortresses, especially to Sveaborg, and tell everyone else to retreat without bothering the enemy. This way we will keep our army unharmed and ready to fight when the right time comes. Small battles are possible to slow them down, but only then when the capital sends more soldiers we will strike against the tired enemy troops from the two different directions – from Sveaborg and northern Sweden. They will be trapped in the middle."

Tino felt himself dizzy, the plan was insane. They would just let them occupy the lands that kept him alive. That would mean he would soon be in a really terrible shape, not to mention that his people still told horror stories of the last occupation. They would be absolutely scared if the soldiers would just leave them, they would never understand this.

"Is this the reason why I should lock myself to Sveaborg?" he asked.

"Yes, we need you here, but we cannot afford to lose you to the enemy, it would be bad for the battle spirit."

"I see…" Tino almost whispered his answer. He looked out of the window, it was snowing again and everything looked so peaceful. It was hard to believe that the kingdom was already at war. He hesitated for a moment before he continued to talk to the commander again. There was something that he just needed to know, even if he was afraid of the answer.

"Does Sweden… I mean Berward, not the government, know about the plan?" It was so risky it was hard to believe that he would be behind it.

"I'm sorry, I have no information about that. I got my directions directly from the king." the commander shook his head lightly.

"Do you have any information about Berward? I haven't heard about him for months now." It wasn't the first time he had been gone for a long time, but usually he avoided it when the times were more uncertain.

"He arrived to Stockholm several months ago, that's all I know right now. I can try to find more information about his whereabouts, but that needs to wait until you are safe and sound. We have prepared a carriage for you, so if you are ready we can leave right away."

"No."

"No? What do you mean by that? I have my orders…"

"I'm not going to Sveaborg, at least not just yet." Tino shook his head determinedly "I can sense the presence of our great neighbor, so I know when it's the last moment to retreat to safety."

Of course, this wasn't the whole truth, as his senses would become more and more blurry as the occupation would proceed. But he couldn't just waste his time in the fortress and let his people believe that everybody had abandoned them. He could help them somehow, without revealing the plan, before he would need to go to Sveaborg. Or at least he hoped so.

"Young man, how do you think you are able to go to Sveaborg past the enemy when you feel like it? The order was to take you to safety, right now."

"Hm, I have my ways. Our movements aren't as limited as movements of ordinary people. And they say I can move pretty quietly when necessary." Tino smiled to the commander sheepishly before he rose from his chair and took his rifle "Don't worry, I promised to Berward to go to Sveaborg, so I will do so. Soon. Let's go, Flower-Egg!" he commanded the dog and walked out of the room.

"Flower-Egg?" the commander was puzzled for a moment, he wasn't used to disobedience. His country was who knows where, his country's underling thought he could make independent decisions, and the tiny fur ball was called Flower-Egg. Flower-Egg!

Soon he, however, gathered himself together and rushed after Tino. He couldn't let him just leave, he was told to take him to Sveaborg, and he would do just that. He opened the front door and was ready to yell him to halt, but there nobody to be seen.

"Vanished like a ghost." the commander mumbled to himself as he tried to find his young fugitive, in vain.

. . .

In the palace of the king, Berward slammed his fists on the table, making the plates skitter. Denmark had declared war, but he hadn't attacked, which meant Berward needed to be even more extra careful now. He had no time to be careful.

He had tried to return to Tino several times now, but it was two countries against one. Whatever he tried, either Denmark or Norway was always able to foil his plans, usually Norway as he was the brains of the duo. He had wasted too much time already! Berward buried his face in his hands out of frustration.

"We can't send more troops there right now, I hope you understand that. If we get desperate now, Denmark can surprise you with his new friends, and who will rescue Finland if they catch you?" his king pointed out while eating his lunch "Our strategy is really modern, and when the weather gets better and Denmark calms down a little bit, Russia will wonder what hit him."

"Can't we ask h'lp from England and his brothers? He's still our ally, r'ght?" Berward raised his head and asked, there was a note of hopefulness in his voice.

"Well, his navy is still close by, but his help is more spiritual," he answered, making Berward snort. The king ignored him and continued to talk.

"If Denmark or France do something, he may attack them, but right now he is busy trying to help Portugal. Calm down, your soldiers in Finland's place know what they are doing."

Berward wasn't sure how many times his king had assured him that. It didn't help, it just made him more annoyed.

. . .

"This has been way too easy."

Russia wondered aloud in their temporary war camp. His soldiers had been able to proceed deep in to the enemy territory without big obstacles, only a few fortresses were still resisting. He was starting to think this could be a trap of some kind. And if this wasn't a trap, he couldn't understand what had made Sweden this weak in a so short of time. He would make a favor for Finland by kidnapping him, he would never be safe in a household like this. And speaking of Finland…

"Have you seen Finland?" he asked from the commander of his armed forces.

"Soldiers might have seen a man who fits the description, but all the men look pretty similar in their dirty uniforms, so we can't be sure."

"He could be avoiding direct contact, I haven't sensed him anywhere." Russia stated "He should be pretty tired already, his most important population centers are already in our hands. Have the captured soldiers tell you anything interesting?"

"Not yet, we have sent the Swedish soldiers to prison and released the Finnish soldiers if they have promised to stop to fight against us, but usually they lie and…" the commander started, but a messenger boy interrupted him by riding his horse straight next to them.

"I have some really good news!" he yelled to them.

. . .

Tino leaned against a tree, slowly drifting towards the ground. He felt himself so tired, it would be so easy just to stay here and sleep for a while. He knew he couldn't do that just yet, he would need to retreat to Sveaborg before that, this was too open area for naps. His senses didn't work properly, just as he had been afraid, they said that Russia was everywhere, even though he couldn't see him anywhere.

Everything he had done so far had been useless. They had maybe slowed down some enemy troops, but that's it. He had tried to help the civilians to cope with the situation, but they were scared and angry, and that made him scared and angry, too.

Flower-Egg barked and pulled his sleeve with her teeth, making him to finally rose up back to his feet. He continued forward, towards the secret passageway to the fortress, dressed in an ordinary fisherman's outfit. Their fancy military uniforms would draw too much attention, he was able to move more freely like this.

As he kept walking, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Berward. Some bitter citizens claimed that he had knew that there was going to be a war and he had escaped to safety before it had started. Tino couldn't believe it, he knew Berward, it didn't sound something that he would do, but the more time passed by, the harder it was to keep dark thoughts away. There was a possibility that something really bad had happened to him, but wouldn't he have heard about this by now?

Soon he arrived to a mossy stone wall that looked older than it really was. He looked swiftly around before he fell on his knees. He searched the ground until his hands found a metallic handle. Good, at least he was still able to find his way here. Only Berward and he knew about this secret passageway to the fortress, it was originally built as an escape route, but you were able to use it to go to the other direction too. Most likely the fortress was already sieged, so this was the only way to sneak in.

The tunnel seemed to last for ages. The air there smelled musty and water was dripping from the cracks of the walls. Tino hurried his steps, it would be pretty miserable to get trapped here forever if the roof would collapse for some reason.

"Look, Flower-Egg!" he said to the dog when he finally saw the exit, startling his own voice as it echoed in the tunnels. He started to push the exit door, hoping it wouldn't be stuck from the lack of use. Luckily, he was able to open it just enough for them both to sneak in.

"Here we are, I hope you are happy, Berward." he mumbled to himself as he closed the door. It merged into the wall, and if you didn't know where to search, it was impossible to see it. He looked around and felt almost immediately that something was wrong.

"Where is everybody?" he asked from Flower-Egg who had started to growl again. This should be the busiest place in the whole kingdom at the moment, but it was way too quiet.

He wasn't able to think further than this when he felt a sharp hit on the back of his head, fell from his knees and crumpled to the ground.

Russia looked at him for a moment with cold looking eyes, holding a rifle which butt had dyed red from the hit. Very soon his expression softened and he kneeled down next to Tino, starting to talk with a soft voice.

"Did you have some sort of a dispute with Sweden, hm? This fortress had so much more potential to defend itself, it would not have surrender so easily if everything had been alright between you two. And your own people told me voluntarily that you had been ordered to come here to safety, "Russia smiled "So after the fortress had surrendered, it was easy to just come here to wait for your arrival."

Everything looked hazy through Tino's eyes, he didn't understand half of what Russia had just said, but the main point was frustratingly clear to him. The fortress that was supposed to be invincible had surrendered to the enemy, the safest place in the kingdom had been a trap. He tried to get up, but the movement made the world blacken in his eyes. The last thing he heard was Flower-Egg barking something in the distance.

Flower-Egg had her ears raised up and forward and she was showing her tiny teeth to Russia. She had decided to punish the large man who had hurt her master. Russia turned his head and looked straight at her "You must belong to the same package?" he just said to her in a friendly tone, grabbed the restive dog from the back of her neck and dropped her in his pocket.

After this he lifted the unconscious Tino carefully on his shoulder and carried him away.

* * *

 **Author's notes** : I didn't change this chapter much, so it's almost the same as the original… which means it's pretty clumsily written And short. And that secret passageway to the Sveaborg fortress doesn't probably exist, but I read there has always been rumors that there could be a secret passageway somewhere ?.


	6. Persuasion

A beautifully decorated coffee cup fell towards the ground and broke into several pieces. The black liquid spread on the carpet and floor. In any other situation this would have annoyed Berward, as this delicious drink had become legal only some years ago.

But now coffee was the last thing on his mind. For some reason he was suddenly overwhelmed by a horrible feeling. A cold sweat formed on his forehead and it felt like he had been split in half, he fell on his knees among the fragments of the cup and spilled coffee. But the sudden seizure lasted only for some seconds, leaving him feel only somehow hollow afterwards. Instinctively he raised his left hand, moving his fingers like testing that they were still there. Of course they were there, it was all in his head.

He had felt like this before, and the feeling promised no good.

Berward raised his head to look up. His king was clearly worried of him, but he was still as helpless as he had been so far. It was almost like his majesty didn't know what they should do. If he didn't know then who did, Berward pondered.

"I th'nk that… Tino… Finland." Berward groaned as he stood slowly back up. He had felt like this when Tino had been captured for the first time some decades ago. It could mean that it had happened to him again, he had been captured… or something worse.

"Finland is g'ne." he managed to say.

"What do you mean 'gone'? Sveaborg is invincible!" the king asked, sounding almost hurt because Berward dared to claim such a nonsense "That little seizure of yours must have been only war weariness." he said and walked to put his coffee cup on a silver tray.

War weariness? No. Of course he was tired, maintenance of the military drained his energy, but it had never before caused such a seizure. Especially when he was stuck here, drinking coffee with the king and not personally in the actual war zone. He had trusted his king when he had said that everything was fine, but the seed of doubt had been planted already some time ago. Why the king hadn't given him more soldiers, they could have helped him to break out of the siege of Denmark and Norway? Was he fit to be the leader at all?

"I need to leave immediately to the eastern p'rt of the kingdom." Berward blurted out "And I demand to have enough soldiers to tr'vel with me."

"You _demand_?" the king turned to face Berward "You aren't one to demand anything. Do we need to remind you that we are your ruler?"

Berward continued to stare at him, he needed to understand the seriousness of the situation.

"We do understand the seriousness of the situation, we really do." the king continued, like reading Berward's thoughts, which made him happy at first "But what happens if you leave? What if Denmark and Norway attack more seriously? Who will stop France if your most important troops are somewhere else?"

For a moment Berward didn't understand what his king tried to say to him. Did he want Berward to stop France? Half of the kingdom were under an attack, he was sure something had happened to Tino and the enemy approached closer the western parts of the country every day. No, he had definitely no time to think about France, he didn't even care if France's boss was the devil or not.

"Your Majesty," Berward started, trying to sound as respectful as possible in this situation "I'm s're you know very well th't a country needs to obey their ruler, it's the unwritten rule. But there have been cases where a country has m'naged to oppose their leader. It's rare and it d'mands extreme willpower, but I'm sure I would find it in me if necessary. That's why I hope you don't give me a reason to c'nsider getting a new boss." Berward ended his unusually long speech and kept his eyes locked on the king. If this wouldn't work then he didn't know what would.

"Now you are already threatening me!" the king's face turned into a shade of bright red. People didn't usually speak to him so directly, he wasn't really used to it "We should throw you in jail for that, that… that's almost lèse-majesté, a crime against majesty!"

"Probably, but your citizens wouldn't l'ke it." Berward answered calmly. He had most likely broken countless of rules just a moment ago. It felt weirdly liberating not to care.

The king started to walk a tiny circle in the beautiful hall. Then he stopped, like wanting to say something, only to start walking again. Berward just looked at him, waiting nervously.

"Alright!" he finally snapped "Alright! Sveaborg is invincible, there is no way someone could beat it, unless Finland didn't obey the orders and didn't even go there. You are now risking us all because of him, so I really hope you know what you are doing. I will give you a group of skilled soldiers, they will take care of Denmark and Norway if they still try something. You can go to check the situation with your own eyes, are you happy now?"

Berward just nodded to his king, bowed and left from the room without saying anything else to him. There was nothing to say, he had said already too much. And he had meant every word. It had worked, that was the most important thing, but he had wasted already too much time with him.

* * *

 **Author's notes** : This chapter was short in the original, so short that it could have been part of the previous chapter. But I didn't change it at all because there is already everything that's needed.


	7. Escape plans

The waves were crashing against the ship. Tino wasn't sure how he had ended up on the wet deck that smelled like fish, but it looked like he was part of the fierce looking-crew. All the men wore a helmet and a sword and they were all considerably taller than he was. But it didn't matter, after all, everybody on this longship were part of the same Viking group, and they were soon going to raid that rich fishing town.

Still, something about this whole situation didn't feel right. He had never enjoyed sailing, it made him feel seasick. So why had he voluntarily climbed aboard this unsteady boat? He couldn't even remember what he was supposed to do next, sailing just wasn't his thing. His thoughts were interrupted when his three colleagues approached him.

"What are you doing here?" a man, whom he recognizes as Norway, asked "You don't belong here."

"You've never been a Viking, are you a spy?" Denmark, who stepped right next to him, accused. The third man was clearly Berward, but for some reason he stayed silent.

The rest of the crew started to chant death to the spy, their voices become louder every time they repeated the scary phrase, which made Tino's headache worse. He tried desperately to look around, to search a place to run or hide, but there was just sea everywhere around him. When the crew suggested that they should just throw him overboard, he tried to look at Berward pleadingly, to make him say something in his defense, but all in vain.

Berward grabbed his arms and twisted them behind his back harshly, making him yelp from pain. Then he proceeded to drag him closer to the edge of the ship, holding tightly as Tino tried to wriggle out of his grip and beg him to release him. For a moment Tino thought Berward wasn't going to really do it, as he stopped and moved his mouth near his ear, like as he was about to whisper something to him. The familiar voice told him that he's sorry before he pushed him to the cold waves. Tino screamed as he fell closer and closer to the dark water.

Tino gasped and opened his eyes, his heart was hammering. He closed them almost immediately when he realized that even the dim light of the room made his headache worse. He tried to lie perfectly still, but the whole room seemed to swing around him. No wonder he had had such an absurd dream about ships.

A Dream? He tried to remember why he felt so horrible if it was just a dream. He was clearly in a bed now, which made sense because he didn't feel well, but this didn't seem like home. Nothing about this place seemed familiar, it even smelled different than it should have smelled. Then he heard a bark from somewhere close by.

"Flower-Egg!" Tino was delighted to see the tiny dog on the floor. She waged her tail happily to him now that her master was finally awake. At least she was here, Tino thought, before he needed to close his eyes again. His thoughts seemed to be somewhat cloudy and the throbbing headache made him to move his hands instinctively to his head. There seemed to be something fabric-like wrapped around it, maybe a bandage of some sort? It had to mean that I have hit my head, Tino thought, chuckling lightly at his magnificent observation skills. Was he in a hospital?

The room continued to swing and Tino fell asleep.

When he woke up again, the pain was still there, but at least he was now able to open his eyes. Carefully, he got up to sit on the bed so he could see around. In addition to the bed, the room had a small table, a chair and a huge wardrobe. Thick velvet curtains cowered the only window. Flower-Egg had curled herself up under the table and was asleep. And now Tino already remembered what had happened.

He had been in the fortress when someone had hit him in the head with a blunt item. It had been Russia, he was almost sure of it, he had whispered something to him and the next thing he remembered was waking up in this place. Tino wondered how long he had been here, judging from the pain probably three years, but that wasn't likely, for their kind healing didn't take so long. But was the war still going on? What had happened to Berward? He tried to calm his breath, panicking wouldn't help him.

When Tino tried to get out of the bed, he realized he was bare feet, the floor felt cold under his feet. He was also wearing just a weird robe, so the rest of his body didn't feel very warm either. He walked to the door, just to try its handle. The door didn't open, which didn't really surprise him, it wouldn't make sense to allow him to go to wander to the hallway.

Next, the young man moved the window curtains aside. The scenery behind the window looked snowy and dark. He could smash the window with the chair, and then use the sheets to climb down. Unfortunately, he was pretty high up, and the sheets would probably reach only up to the midpoint. He could drop himself down from there, but he would most likely only to break half of his bones, and then he would need to lie there waiting for someone to carry him back inside. Or maybe he would be too afraid to let go of the sheets and he would hang outside in a blizzard until someone would help him back up.

And if he would be lucky enough to escape unharmed, he would not be able to go far without freezing, even though he was used to cold, he wasn't a polar bear. Without shoes and wearing only this robe, his journey would end before it had even started. Unless, Tino thought, and turned his head to look at the wardrobe, he would find extra clothes. He rushed to open the doors of the huge furniture, if he was in Russia's place, it would make sense to find a thick fur coat, gloves and maybe an ushanka…

Empty! The unused coat hangers looked miserable in the huge space. Tino slammed the door shut, what was the point to keep an empty wardrobe in the room? Was it here only to tease him?

This place was like a prison cell that tried to pretend to be a cozy room, most likely on purpose. He had to get out of here, Russia had been wrong when he had claimed that Tino had probably unconsciously wanted to get caught and that's why the fortress had surrendered. Of course he had been worried about the disappearance of Berward, and maybe it had bothered him more than he wanted to admit. It was possible that it had made the situation even worse among his people, but why would Russia had needed to hit him in the head if he had wanted to go with him voluntarily?

He would smash that door, smash it and march out of here – after finding a full wardrobe. Eduard, his old friend, was here somewhere, he would know where he could find warm clothes. Tino walked near the table and lifted the chair into the air while Flower-Egg looked at him attentively. In the next instant, he crashed the chair against the wooden door, trying to use it as a battering ram.

The hit had no effect, so he tried again, harder this time. He made a quite high noise while he tried to break the door, and hoped this place had good soundproofing.

The hope was in vain. Just when he was preparing to hit again, someone unlocked the door and ripped it open. Tino stopped in tracks when he saw a young woman in the dark doorway, her eyes flamed with hate. Belarus, Tino recognized her when she started to walk towards him, making him to retreat until he was back to the wall. Belarus slammed her hands on the wall, staring him straight in the eyes.

The girl was a little bit shorter than he was, but for some reason her presence made him uncomfortable and made a cold sweat break down his forehead. He wasn't sure was it because he was wearing just a robe, or because he knew from personal experience that Russia's little sister usually carried knives with her. And he was now completely unarmed and in a bad shape.

"What are you doing, you damn idiot! Someone tries to sleep here!" The girl snapped at him.

"Uh…" Was the only thing he managed to say. Heck, had he started to sound like Berward? And if his observation skills didn't fail him this time, it was obviously night.

"This place has already too many people. I hate it. And then brother drags even more people here." Belarus continued "But brother would probably be sad if you managed to escape, so don't you dare to try to sneak past me. And be quiet!" She ended her lecture and was just about to turn around and walk back to the door, when Tino interrupted her intention with a question.

"Do you know where bro… I mean Russia is?"

"Probably punishing your dear Sweden for his disobedience." The girl answered laconically, as though she didn't want to waste her time on him any longer than necessary, and left from the room, locking the door after her.

Tino sighed from relief and slumped to sit on the bed. He saw that Flower-Egg had hid under it, she whined there quietly, Belarus had made also her frightened. "Aren't you supposed to defend me?" Tino asked her absentmindedly. He had just found out that the war was still raging.

How was Berward doing? What was happening there?

* * *

 **Mjansikka** : Yeah, I know, languages never have been my strong point, but I try to be better than Google translator :P.


	8. A traitor?

Sweden was finally woken from his hibernation, Russia pondered as he was forced to retreat some distance back. And not only him, someone else had also woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Finland's peasants had started to rebel, it was a clear sign of that Finland was awake and in an angry mood. His soldiers weren't ready to surrender, either, and they continued to fight together with the Swedish troops.

Annoying, really annoying.

According to the intelligence reports, Finland had tried to escape thought the chimney at least once. Through the chimney! What was he planning to do on the roof? Should he prohibit the little nation from leaving from the room even during the day? He needed to calm him down somehow, and make Sweden to surrender, he was racing against the clock. Things weren't going according to plan right now, he would probably need to forget the plan to punish Sweden more thoroughly, it would take too much his time.

France was becoming even more powerful and the war against the Ottoman empire was still going on, Russia would have needed to be in multiple places at the same time. And France still hadn't sent him reinforcements he desperately needed if he wanted to beat Ottoman, even though he had promised to do so. And what was even worse, the French snob had a bit too good relationship with Poland. Poland, who really should belong to Russia, and not to be a semi-independent vassal of France. Who knew what the two were plotting against him when he was busy…

Russia drew his sword from the scabbard and attacked along with his soldiers towards their next target. Advance, dodge, cut, the snow whirled around the fighting soldiers, coloring it light red when the most unskilled or careless men ended their journey on these cold fields. This time the Swedish troops were outnumbered and they decided to retreat uncontrollably, some surrendered to the enemy to save their lives.

Russia had only some time to draw his breath before his instincts told him that the certain someone was now somewhere nearby. Ah, it looked like Sweden had finally decided to show up personally, apparently Denmark and Norway were no match for him after all. Russia turned around, searching for the country with his gaze.

Sweden walked out from the forest on the edge of the field a weapon in his hand, his troops followed after him. His opponent's face was as grim as always, Russia calmly smiled and remained in place. Sweden stopped at a small distance away from him and his soldiers.

"If your intention was to fight in that small skirmish, you are late." Russia decided to kindly inform Sweden "How about we stop this small war here and now, only you and me. There will be less victims this way." Russia tilted his head curiously.

"Where is he?" Sweden asked, rudely ignoring Russia. Of course, he was missing his little friend.

"Safe. You know, catching him was way too easy, your defense leaks like a sieve." Russia shrugged "I almost pity you." He ended with a grin. Sweden hated that grin. There he was, talking to him like nothing had happened, he wanted to wipe that grin off his face. He attacked and his troops followed their leader.

It was an attack full of rage but without a strategy, a desperate attempt. Russia dodged the attack, making Sweden to turn around and try again. Bare ground crunched under Russia's boots when he dodged the attack again and counter-attacked before Sweden was even able to realize what had just happened. The opponents sword cut a deep wound on Sweden's right arm, making him yelp in pain and drop his own sword.

"You are hopelessly late. Your kingdom is missing almost half of its lands, which means you are only half of what you used to be. You are tired after you have kept too many fronts up at the same time." Russia said, trying to keep his voice calm. He has the same problem, but the opponent shouldn't realize it, never show your weaknesses to the enemy. "Your mission is impossible. Give up."

Sweden's face twisted into an angry grimace. He needed some time to heal his hand, after that he could plan a better strategy, he was sure of it. There was no way he couldn't still be victorious, he needed to get Tino back somehow. He decided to retreat for now ordering his soldiers to back him up. He cursed in his mind, he didn't even realize he was already in so bad shape. He had been beaten like a puny rookie.

. . .

Tino leaned his chin on his hand while he was sitting on the bed, Eduard next to him looked at his friend, the expression on his face was worried.

"I don't know what I should do." Tino finally interrupted the silence.

"Did you meet the Czar?" Eduard asked while checking Tino's old bruises. He had started a quite violent skirmish after his great escape through the chimney had failed. Natalya would have wanted to ignite the fire in the fireplace and smoke him down, but luckily Katyusha interrupted her and was able to persuade him to come down without the extreme measures. Nevertheless, a group of soldiers was needed to calm the situation down.

Tino doesn't have the time to answer when Raivis suddenly opens the door and comes hesitantly in.

"H-hi, can I come in?" he's probably interested in what the Czar talked about with Tino, too. His majesty doesn't talk directly to Russia's subordinates very often. Tino nodded his head and Raivis climbed to sit on the bed with them.

"He was very nice, in his own way, but he had a proposition for me. He wanted me to choose." Tino said, still looking down on the floor.

"He wants you to choose? What?" Eduard asked curiously. Bosses don't usually let you choose about anything.

"If I continue to revolt, I will be restrained by force. I will live the rest of my life in chains, and who knows how long that life will be… He said they have been very lenient towards me this far. But if I calm down and behave on my own initiative, he could guarantee me an autonomous position inside his empire, I could be a bit freer."

"What choice is that?" Raivis almost shouted "I would kill to get a position like that!" the tiny tousle-haired nation blurted and looked then around him. He meant that figuratively, he's not planning to start a revolution. He hoped nobody outside this room heard him.

Eduard looked at Raivis and thought the same. When nothing happened, he started to talk again "But that's true. We would give a lot to get an opportunity like that. Why are you hesitating?"

"Am I a traitor if I agree? Nice, tamed – he's the enemy! And what would Berward say? You know what people who jump to the enemy's side are called. And more importantly; I have no intention to stay here." Tino retorted frustratedly "Aren't you supposed to die in one's shoes, or something."

"You don't have shoes, you are barefoot." Raivis took Tino literately. This made Tino to chuckle, despite the situation.

"Which reminds me, what's the point of this? Why I'm not given shoes and I have to wear this awful robe? When I met the Czar, I was given better clothes, but they were taken away after that. Why?" Tino moved his legs on the edge of the bed and stared at his bare feet.

"Ah, you are easier to recognize if you somehow get out. You look like an escapee from some shady facility," Estonia said and after he realized that Tino looked at him with a puzzled look, he continued "Sorry, but that's true. And during the winter escaping is impossible because of the risk of frostbite. Russia can't take any risks with you before he gets Sweden to surrender officially and hand you to him. Then you will be stuck here, no matter what." Eduard corrected the position of his glasses, Tino glanced at him.

"Can't you two get me something I could wear? Something normal?" he asked.

Eduard sighed "If it was only about me, I would have helped you out of here a long time ago. Heck, I wouldn't be here either, I would rather live in some forest, even though I would probably miss my books. But it's never only about us, Tino. I could sacrifice myself, but I could never endanger my people, and breaking the rules would endanger them." Raivis nodded at Eduard.

"You mean I should look at the bigger picture with this whole autonomy thing? Not only think how I personally feel?" the duo who kept Tino company nodded their heads at the same time.

"Did he give you time to consider this proposition?" Eduard asked after a short silent moment.

"I guess so, but I'm not sure how long they are willing to wait. Maybe I could just follow the situation and decide then. Who knows, maybe Berward will still win." Tino sighed.

"But don't take too much time." Eduard warned. Tino looked at him questioningly.

"If Berward loses and withdraws his troops, Iva… Russia may decide that he is able to deal with you without giving you any privileges. It could be too late by then."


	9. Difficult decisions

Big doors closed behind him surprisingly softly. The hall was decorated really beautifully, maybe even too luxuriously for his taste, Russia seemed to like everything shiny. But Tino didn't have time to admire the view, the soldiers escorted him back to their living area as soon as he came out of the door.

He had done it. The young man's head felt dizzy as he walked through the corridor to his room. Just a moment ago, he swore an oath of allegiance to the Russian czar and therefore to Russia himself. And his former king, the king of Sweden, was gone. Berward had deposed him already a long time ago. How or why, Tino wasn't sure, but he had done it. It had been a clear sign to Tino; Berward didn't believe in his victory anymore either. There was no turning back.

Or was there? Maybe there could be some kind of miracle, maybe someone would come to help Berward at the last minute? What would he say to Berward, then? That he was forced to swore the oath? They aimed their pistols at him and cut him with daggers and he had no other choice? But that didn't happen, at least not so directly.

And is he now obligated to fight against Berward if his troops will be victorious against all the odds? Just a few minutes ago he swore loyalty to the czar! Probably not, as he was still officially Berward's, and Tino didn't have any real say in the matters. Everything he has said or swore can be declared null and void, he would just be punished for it by the new ruler of Sweden. Now that he thought about it, it didn't feel very good either, his word didn't mean anything, but he still needed to decide and whatever he decided, there was still a possibility that he would be punished for it. Null and void, he was null and void.

Tino's headache had returned, all this had made him feel extremely stressed. He felt confused, angry and scared about the future, all at the same time. And he couldn't help it, Russia creeped him out. He settled down on the bed.

"What do you say, Flower-Egg?" Tino said to the dog, just because he felt like talking to someone "Should I stop worrying and let the future generations decide did I just do the biggest mistake of my life?"

The little dog barked happily, making Tino smile at her.

"So, you think so? Do you know, you are a very good advisor." he chuckled but then became more serious again. He would just like to go back home. This place looked and smelled foreign, he didn't like such great changes at all.

. . .

Berward remembered all the details, as if it had just happened yesterday. He had kicked in the royal door, and let the rebel armies in. The look on his king's face had been surprised at first, but it turned angry after he had realized what had just happened; his own country had just betrayed him. It was something that hardly ever happened. A taboo among the countries.

He didn't understand that Berward didn't betray him, he betrayed Berward first with his ridiculous plans. He didn't even understand to be ashamed, even though everything was his fault, everything!

The king had broken the window and ran to the garden with a sword in his hand. His pathetic escape attempt had been in vain. They caught him and he was deposed, now he was just a random nobody, not worth of anything anymore. Losing Tino was all his fault, his megalomaniac plans towards France and Norway… let's just retreat without fighting until the time is right… he didn't act when he was supposed to act.

But that was a long time ago, the fighting still continued. And at the moment Berward lay on the frosty ground and Norway pointed a gun at him. The king was gone, but he was still in trouble with his old enemies. Why had the fortress surrendered? Had there been one weak link and everything had crumbled down because of him?

"What you get from th's?" Berward asked from Norway.

"What do you mean?" Norway asked calmly.

"Denmark wants Scania b'ck from me and to pay other old scores, too. That's why it's useful for him to be on France's and Russia's side. But what you get fr'm this, _Lukas_?"

"We are together. His will is also my will, you know that. Doesn't Finland also fight in your wars, _Berward_?" Norway answered to him and continued then "… well, at least he did fight for you. Apparently not anymore."

Berward clenched his teeth together, but stayed calm. "So, the only reason you f'ght for him is because it's your responsibility towards him? Do you happen to know wh're he's right now?"

"Yes, only for responsibility and because sooner or later you would have targeted us again. And what comes to Mathias, he's probably beating your soldiers at the moment, unless that moron has gotten lost again. Why do you ask?"

"You th'nk so? What do you say if I t'll you that I met him before I c'me across you? And that now he lies badly wounded on the ground fr'm here to north?"

Berward stressed his words, observing Norway carefully as the words left his mouth. A sudden astonishment and a genuine worry flashed in Norway's eyes, only for a moment, but Berward took advantage of this opportunity. Before Norway was able to even move, Berward hit his fist straight into his stomach, making him fall down and gasp and cough for air. Berward then picked up the gun from the ground.

The roles had now changed.

"I haven't really m't Denmark, so no need to worry about h'm." Berward told to Norway while he aimed the gun at the country who now sat on the ground an angry look on his face. Berward knew his true nature, they had all been friends until Berward had decided to escape from the union and the hostilities had begun. The years had not changed that. "Wh't do you say? Would I be able to blackmail Denmark and Russia using you?"

Berward was only barely able to finish his sentence when he heard a loud bang from behind him and felt tremendous pain on his left shoulder. He wasn't sure when it happened, but all the sudden he found himself on his knees on the ground, trying to hold his bleeding shoulder. His eyes felt blurry, he had strained himself too much even before this.

"Hi Sweden!" Russia greeted him happily "I have been looking for you, and here you are just chatting with that little one." Norway glanced at Russia while he cleaned off the snow from his jacket.

"What do you say? Do you still want to continue? You don't look very healthy." Russia continued with a concerned voice. It annoyed Berward, thoughts were swirling in his head. He couldn't continue, there was no way, he couldn't even get up. A shot in even worse location would make him bedridden for weeks. Who know what would happen awhile, maybe also he would wake up in Russia's house. At least he would then meet Tino again, Berward laughed dryly in his mind, but even that hurt.

If that would happen, then all the hope would be lost. Then there would be no chance to get Tino back. But he wouldn't want to give up, not now. But… he probably had to. He didn't have king anymore, nothing went according to plans and he was almost helpless. He would have wanted to scream, but he couldn't do even that.

"I… surrender." Berward almost whispered, he felt so dizzy. This will be only temporary, he repeated in his mind.

"What did you say?" Russia beamed, pretending he didn't hear.

"I surrender! I w'll be France's ally. I w'll stop trading with England and his brothers!" he said louder, there was no need to humiliate him even further.

"Maybe you are wiser than you look, after all."

Russia said and patted him on his healthy shoulder. Sweden should consider himself lucky, his original plans towards him weren't so gentle. But he didn't want to waste his energy here any longer, not when his current French partner wasn't as reliable as he promised to be. That little cold nation was now his, and that was enough for him now. More artic areas, uh, he should really need to aim his gaze towards the south, not in this icy direction.

"Come, Norway! Let's find your Denmark. Sweden, we will meet again when you come to sign the treaty!" Russia said to Sweden as he wrapped his arm around Norway's shoulders, while Norway in turn tried to shoo the big country further away "What? You want to come with me as well? No? That's weird?"

Berward stayed on the ground, staring at them as they walked away. When Norway looked back for the last time, their eyes met. Berward's gaze was ice cold.


	10. Bitterness in the air

_Two years later…_

"I'm surprised you still dare to sh'w your face h're." Berward said to his guest. The guest smiled to him sneakily and then set his almost empty coffee cup on the table.

"We are friends now, right? You are part of my continental blockade against England and his brothers." France asked and crossed his leg over his knee "And I'm here to ask you a favor, just a small one, between us friends." The guest looked Berward straight at his eyes, acting just like a self-confident ruler of half of Europe should act like.

"You said that If I j'in to your war against Russia, you will help me to get Finland back from h'm?" Berward asked absentmindedly. It all had happened two years ago, but the wound was still fresh.

"That's right! I doubt your new king has anything against this, he's my old marshal, after all." France leaned himself closer to Berward "This is an opportunity of a lifetime, and you want him back, right?"

Yes, Berward wanted him back. But it wasn't so simple, not simple at all. His boss was a former French marshal, Berward had chosen him because he had tried to get better relations with France, but to his surprise his new king loathed France's boss.

"Because of you, I lost h'm in the first place…" Berward said and clenched his fists under the table. Some countries had the nerve. He was selling Tino here and there.

"Ah, it was a mistake on my part. My boss now thinks I should have never allied with Russia like that. The country is too greedy for power." France chuckled "And he continued to trade with England after you promised to stop it, can you believe it? That's one of the reasons why I want to punish him now. Don't you want to save your small friend from him?"

Save him? Berward wasn't sure did Tino even need saving. He seemed to do well in his new role as the Russian Grand Duchy. Berward should have been happy for him, but for some reason he felt bitterness. Even the thought made him annoyed. If Tino was doing badly, he could… he could… what he could do, he wasn't sure. To be happy that only Berward was able to make Tino happy?

"I need to consider the m'tter." Berward didn't know what else he could say.

"You need to consider? I thought you would accept the offer with joy." France seemed to be genuinely surprised.

"I have another meeting soon. And after th't I need to talk with my boss." Berward said and got up from his chair. It was a sign for the guest that he should leave.

"I understand. I hope I will get you on my side soon." France smiled at Berward as the man escorted him out. Berward would soon need to hurry to meet a certain someone.

. . .

"It's wonderful that you could come!" Russia urged Berward to sit down. This was a familiar place for Berward, really familiar. But today it was known as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland. Why Russia had wanted to meet him here, he wasn't sure, but he sat down on a very soft chair.

"As you know, France has cowardly attacked me." Russia started, making Berward to nod his head "And I'm afraid that he tries to get you to join to the attack." Russia smiled, observing Berward at the same time. That was a good guess, it was no wonder for Berward how he had become an imperium.

"This would be very… awkward for me. Is there something that would make you change your mind? Tell me your price."

"Finland."

"Oh, let me finish!" Russia said, chuckling "If you ask too much, I won't pay. I said it would be awkward, but I'm sure I would be able to get rid of you if you decide to attack. And do you really want Tino to get hurt in the process? Finland is out of question, ask for something else."

Something else? Berward's mind started to wander. What else could he ask?

"Åland." he finally said. People on those small islands that were attached to Finland were Swedish, part of his whole essence, he wasn't even sure how this separation would affect them.

Russia started to laugh, almost giggle, at him "No, no, no Berward! Don't ask for anything that's _mine_. I won't give up any of my own. Choose another target, I will help you to get it after the war is over. Isn't there something, someone, you have planned to annex at some point?

Anther target? Berward stared at Russia, his smile was now almost cunning. There was one country that he had tried to annex with previously, but was unsuccessful because Russia was an ally of the said countries.

"Norway…" Berward whispered.

"Great!" Russia said happily "Denmark and Norway are still France's allies. They have stayed loyal to him even though he dared to attacked me. If you promise that you won't join the attack and become my ally instead, I will help you to get Norway from Denmark when everything is over."

Norway from Denmark… Denmark would deserve it. He would know how it feels when someone important is taken from him. Berward couldn't take France's offer. His new king was against it, the king wanted Norway. Norway, who was easier to defend, who had greater natural wealth and whose people were Berward's close relatives. He didn't feel like explaining to him why a man would rather live with his "wife" than with his "little brother".

And his new king didn't have any kind of connection to Finland, unlike Sweden. He's able to abandon the nation like it was a worn-out glove, 600 years of common history didn't mean anything to a mortal with no roots to this place. So, he needed to accept Russia's offer. Maybe it should go like this. Maybe it was supposed to go like this from the very beginning. Maybe he should have never even met Finland.

"But…" Berward mumbled, Russia tilted his head curiously "Could I… would it be possible th't Tino could come to my place for the t'me of the war?" Russia's expression turned confused "If I t'ke care of the defense of Finland during the war, you don't need to do th't. Then you can… I would return him back…"

"Nice try, Sweden. But don't try to get them both." Russia was smiling to him again "The condition for getting Norway is that you won't ever try to get Tino back. Not as long as the family of your French king rules."

. . .

Someone knocked on the door. Tino was just about to start to work with a huge pile of papers, his autonomous status meant more work for him, and sometimes he still wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Russia was always happy to give him advice, maybe too happy sometimes, but he would really like to learn to do this on his own. And then France had attacked… Ivan and everything had become even complicated.

"Come in."

Raivis opened the door. Tino was able to see from his expression that he didn't have good news.

"Well, uh," he stammered, Tino just stared at him, waiting "My mission is to inform you that the kingdom of Sweden has just signed an alliance agreement with the Russian empire. As a reward for his cooperation, Sweden has demanded to get Norway."

"Oh?" Tino doesn't know what else could he say. He smiled kindly to Raivis, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"So…" Raivis said hesitantly "Are you alright. I was told to tell you this..."

"It's OK, you just did what you were supposed to do. I'm alright, really." Tino continued to smile and Raivis sighed from relief before he left from the room. After he closed the door, Tino fell on his knees, it felt like someone had just punched him.

He should have excepted something like this, he blamed himself. But maybe he had subconsciously hoped that…

He was doing surprisingly well right now, but he just couldn't think that everything would continue like this. And maybe he had thought, a bit selfishly, that he couldn't be replaced just like that. At least not so fast. Well, he had sworn the oath of allegiance to Russia, too. The thought visited his mind briefly before he decided to ignore it.

No one forced Berward to do this! Nobody threatened him with annexation unless he takes Norway! Berward's situation was totally different than his. Norway was still the enemy. And where had Berward been when the attack had started? Why had he left Tino to defend the whole kingdom alone against the huge empire? No, he hadn't told him to defend it, he had told him to go to the fortress… where Russia had waited for him. Was this whole thing planned from the very beginning? Was it Berward who had planned this with Russia so he could get rid of him and get Norway instead?

Tino squeezed the papers that had fallen from the table in his wrists. He didn't want to see Berward, perhaps never again. He hoped that the rest of the life for Sweden and Norway would be miserable.

Flower-Egg hid herself under the table, just in case.

* * *

 **Author's notes** : Well, in real life Sweden and Finland did got pretty angry at each other after the war, Sweden because Finland was too calm and didn't rebel enough and Finland because Sweden had disappeared during the war. And because that deal about Norway was like a slap in the face, that's probably why the meeting was held in Finland. So that the Finns would heard about it, at least a simple version of it.

This the is second to last chapter, that's why I wrote this pretty fast. And originally the messenger was Lithuania instead of Latvia, but I realized that France had probably already occupied Lithuania at this point.


	11. The Last Meeting

"Be quiet, everyone!"

England tried to raise his voice, but the background noise didn't stop. It had started to look like the wars were finally going to be over after France had experienced a severe defeat in the hands of the Sixth Coalition. All the countries and nations involved in the wars had gathered in a meeting held in Austria's place.

"Shut the hell up already!"

Prussia yelled and slammed his hands on the table in order to make his order sound more powerful. The noise faded a little bit, but didn't end completely. Austria rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed by Prussia's rude behavior, but Prussia just smirked at him after he noticed that it had helped.

The four victorious countries who had joined forces again after France had attacked Russia - England, Prussia, Austria and Russia - sat at the end of a long table, and so did France, even thought he was a defeated country. Tino sat further away from them, next to a small messy haired nation who Russia called Bessarabia. Finland wasn't even sure was it his real name. Next to them was an empty chair. Someone was probably late.

Tino tried his best to look everywhere but at the direction where Berward was sitting. He was so close, right on the other side of the table with Norway, a grumpy expression on his face. Also Sweden had the honor to belong among the victorious countries, but he had not gotten a chair among the victorious four. He wasn't recognized as a great power anymore, so he needed to sit with the other small countries.

"Maybe we should finally start to act like civilized countries."

England started to talk, someone in the conference hall chuckled at his words "France has finally been defeated and we need to return Europe back to the normal state." he continued and Tino was sure a small smile creeped on his face when he mentioned 'France' and 'defeated' in the same sentence

"We need to return every area taken by France to their rightful owners. The same applies to the areas that were taken by France's allies. Does everyone agree?"

Some countries in the hall nodded their heads approvingly.

"Great. So next we need…" England said, but got interrupted when Russia raised his hand.

"Yes, Russia? You have something to say?"

"Da, I don't agree with you. I have already agreed with Sweden and Ottoman that Finland and Bessarabia belong to me now. I won't discuss about this matter here with you."

Russia said, smiling at England. Tino was excepting something like this. He looked at Bessarabia who was staring at the table. The tiny nation wasn't sure what he should think about Russia, but he didn't like Ottoman either. Tino stayed quiet, too. He wanted to stay out of trouble, behave like was excepted to do, and there was nothing to say anyway.

"I… I guess it's fine, then."

England scratched his head and tried to look around for support.

"What do you think?" he asked from Austria and Prussia, but Austria had nothing to add about the matter and Prussia just shrugged. They didn't want to be added on the Russia's blacklist, and to whom these two nations belonged was none of their business anyway. Only Ottoman mumbled something in his language, something that nobody wanted to understand. Berward's expression was pretty murderous, Tino noticed, but he stayed silent.

"Okay, then. Correction to the previous message; every area acquired by France and his allies should be returned to their rightful owners, except these two."

England declared to the people in the hall. Maybe it didn't sound very fair, but they shouldn't anger Russia for nothing. He had been there when they all had tried to defeat France, after all. He did almost the biggest part, even though he was at some point on France's side for a while.

"What about me! ?" Denmark's voice echoed from the back of the hall "Is it right that I lost Norway?"

Now Berward was ready to speak out, but England urged him to stay silent and started to talk to Denmark

"Denmark, you were France's ally. As a punishment you lost Norway. And Sweden, who is one of the victorious nations, need to get a replacement for losing Finland because we can't demand Russia to give him back."

"I was his ally only because _you_ started to bomb me out of sudden!"

"So, I'm just some lousy replacement? Do you except me to accept this?" a new voice started to speak, this time from near Tino; Norway. Berward glanced at Norway, but couldn't make him stay quiet. Now also Tino got more interested on the subject of the debate.

"I want to be independent!" the hall became noisy again after Norway's declaration "Sweden has tried to get me into a union with him by starting war against me. Shouldn't I have some rights, too?" he continued.

"Don't be a fool." Prussia blurted "You can't defend yourself. Countries who can't defend themselves aren't worth of independence."

"Sweden gets my support in this matter, just like we agreed." Russia grinned, making Tino to frown.

"And I need agree with them." England nodded his head "If an enemy of mine gets you under their control, you will be dangerous even for me. It's better for you to be protected by Sweden."

Tino looked at Norway, tilting his head a little bit. Just a few years ago he was mad at him, too. But by now it had become quite clear that also he was just a pawn in a lot bigger game. Almost all of them were.

"If that's the case, I want you to guarantee my rights, that's the least you can do. I have already agreed about them with Sweden." Norway nodded his head at the direction of Berward "But I don't trust him. I want you to do so, and supervise that he doesn't break his promises. I already lost Emil and my other brothers to Denmark when I needed to move in with Sweden, I don't want to lose my freedom as well."

The victorious four agreed to so, as this was alright with Berward. Berward wasn't completely happy about the peace he had made with Lukas, but sometimes a bad peace was better than a good war. Maybe Lukas would calm down someday, he had to give him some special privileges so that he would stop fighting against him. They could make this work, somehow. Berward glanced at Tino, but couldn't read the expression on his face.

"But to make sure anyone won't be bitter after the meeting is over, Denmark can get the area of Pomerania from Sweden. That can be the compensation for Norway." England continued the meeting after the situation calmed down a little bit.

"Kesese, did you hear, Denmark! I would love to have that place!" Prussia said to Denmark, who still looked depressed. He shook his head slowly.

"You can have it." Denmark said, making the whispering nations in the hall raise their voices again. For a moment Prussia looked genuinely confused.

"Are you serious? Or just joking?"

"Nothing replaces Norway. I don't need any replacements, unlike some people here. I can sell the area to you if you want it so badly."

Denmark grunted, glancing at Berward who looked now extremely annoyed. Tino realized that they were still quarreling with each other, but that was pretty impressive, it almost made Tino to smile. He was almost able to see a flash of respect in Norway's eyes, too. But the truth was that Prussia was so interested in having the area of Pomerania it was possible that he would start a war to get it anyway. It was too dangerous place for Denmark to keep.

The meeting continued. They were still deciding who will get what, and by that they meant which great power gets what. They didn't want to punish even France too harshly, and he got to keep some of his new areas. Everyone was afraid that if someone was left too bitter, they could start new wars soon after the old ones ended. Everyone also recognized Switzerland as a neutral country, even though nobody probably asked him did he even want that. All this made Tino feel drowsy, and he opened his eyes only when the noise in the hall become louder again.

"I'm sure you understand why I should have Poland?" Austria's voice was now the loudest. They seemed to have found a subject that caused discord among the three victors.

"Oh, come on. I had him before France messed everything up." Prussia poked him with his elbow. Their argument wasn't able to continue for very long before Russia leaned closer to them both.

"Don't be silly, you two! Poland is mine now. If someone has something to say about the matter, I can… hm-m… talk with them privately after the meeting."

The thought of a private meeting with Russia didn't sound good to either of them. Prussia and Austria glanced at England at the same, but he ignored them both. There was no way he would get involved in this. The Polish areas were divided between the three of them, there was no way to change the situation, so it didn't matter to England whose underling Poland should be. All the three were equally crazy and England wanted to keep his distance to all of them.

"Oh? Where is he anyway?" Prussia tried to find him from the conference hall with his gaze.

"He was in a pretty difficult mood and not cooperative at all… You can tell them to bring him in now." Austria told to one of the guards in the hall. Soon the huge doors opened and two guards dragged struggling Poland in. Now everyone's heads turned to look at him.

"You can't do this to me!" he tried to kick the man who held him by the arm but in vain. Fighting on the side of France had drained his powers as well.

"I'm sorry, Poland, but you were France's ally. The winners of the war have…" England couldn't even finish his sentence when Poland interrupted him.

"I was on his side because I wanted to get rid of those three idiots!"

he pointed first at Russia, then Prussia and finally Austria "You so can't do this to me again!" Poland's eyes moved frantically as he tried to search for support from the conference guests and then his eyes stopped to look at France. France just looked sadly back at Poland and shook his head slightly. There was nothing he was able to do for him anymore, he had been defeated. The prize would be too high. Poland needed to manage on his own now.

"You will belong mostly to Russia from now on. You will serve also Prussia and Austria in their turns." England finally said, without meeting Poland's gaze as he was staring at his papers. Prussia and Austria mumbled some objections, but they didn't try to challenge Russia.

"What? !" the divided nation cried out.

"Did you hear, Poland?" Russia asked from the horrified nation while he put his arm on his shoulders "You are mine again. But don't worry, if my boss likes you, he can give you an autonomy like he did with those two." Russia said and pointed at the direction of Tino and Bessarabia. "But only if you promise to be a good boy like they have done."

Tino felt a shiver on his spine, maybe he shouldn't complain, his situation could be worse. At least he wasn't divided between three masters, Poland's fate was pretty horrible.

And the possibility of an autonomous position didn't probably make Poland feel any better when Russia started to drag him towards the door and commanded Tino and Bessarabia to follow after him. The meeting was over for Russia, he had gotten almost everything he had wanted already.

Just when Tino was about to get up from his chair, ready to hurry after Russia before he would need to repeat his order, he saw Berward to do the same.

But then Berward started to hesitate and sat back down. He looked straight at Tino, a sad look on his face. Tino looked back at him for a moment, but walked then away. He couldn't make Russia to wait for him. Before he leaved from the door, he glanced back at Berward one more time. He didn't really mean all those bad words he had thought about him some years ago. He wished that he could go to him, ask him to explain what happened back then, but he was also afraid of the answer.

He whispered a silent goodbye to him before he left completely from Berward's field of vision.

* * *

 **Author's notes** : And the end. This was almost the same as the original fic.

Now I think I will fix all the mistakes in this and maybe I will do some other changes, too, I'm not sure yet. I kind of hope I would have written this a little bit differently back then.


End file.
